Loose Ends and New Beginnings
by Mandabug100
Summary: This is the sequal to Panic, Olivia must end the final chapter of her old life before she can begin her new one with Elliot...
1. The Honeymoon's Over

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: This is the third in the Panic series. This story picks up where Panic left off, right after Elliot and Olivia's wedding. You will be very confused if you don't read those stories first!! Olivia must deal with the final chapter of her old life before she can begin a new one with Elliot.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if I did Elliot would never have asked Kathy if he could go home! **

**A/N:  
Wow, so sorry that this took so incredibly long to post, I have been swamped with school work. I can't promise that updates will be timely, and I hate that, because i know that I lose readers that way, but I have very little time. This chapter is short, but they get longer. I really think that you'll like this, so just please stick around for it. It's a little AU, but I tried to stay as in character as possible, so just please have patience with me. If an update takes a while, I didn't die (at least I hope lol) and I didn't decide to stop writing, I'm still working on it, and posts will come as soon as possible!**

**Thanks to the readers I have had since the beginning, and please just have patience with me, u know that I'm usually punctual with updates! Thanks!!!**

**Honeymoon's over**

Olivia lay in bed, and smiled when she heard the steady running of the shower. It was her first morning waking up in her apartment as Olivia Stabler. Her honeymoon had been wonderful, but being at home suddenly made everything seem real. The fact that she wasn't waking up to the silence of an empty apartment was enough to keep her smiling for the rest of her life.

She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard the shower shut off or Elliot come back into the bedroom.

"Thinkin about me?" He asked cockily when he noticed the spacey look on her face.

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head to see him. He was standing in front of the bed, still a little wet from his shower, in nothing but a towel.

"Now this is a way to wake up." She simply said why a coy smile as she raised herself up with her elbows.

"You like what you see Mrs. Stabler?" He asked, flexing for her before crawling across the bed to get to her.

"I'd like it better if that towel was on the floor Mr. Stabler." She said, raising her eyebrow.

Elliot was about to oblige her when the cell phone next to the bed went off.

"You have got to be kidding me." Olivia moaned, throwing herself back onto her pillow.

Elliot just laughed, tightened his towel, and picked up the phone. "Stabler." He said into it methodically. "Yeah, we'll be there in an hour." He said. "Thanks Cap." He said before hanging up.

"What does he want?" She moaned, not getting up from her laying position.

"He was just making sure we were coming in. Apparently it's busy at the house." He told her, making his way back to the bathroom to get dressed.

"Just what I need after a nice relaxing week in paradise, pedophiles and rapists." She complained.

"Hey, at least you get to come home to this handsome face." He said, sticking his head out of the bathroom as he put his undershirt on. "You may want to get up unless you plan on going to work in my tee-shirt." He added, making reference to the NYPD tee-shirt she had stolen to sleep in.

Olivia just shook her head. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going." She said, forcing herself out of bed. Before dressing she strutted across the room and into the bathroom. She wrapped her arms around Elliot's waist from behind him, and placed a few short kisses on his neck. "I like waking up to you." She whispered.

Elliot turned so that he could face her and wrap his arms around her. "Well what a coincidence, because I like waking up to you." He smiled, kissing her deeply on the lips.

Olivia pulled away before their kiss could get too deep. "I have to shower, and you have to finish getting dressed or we're gonna be late." She said.

"Oh, sure, now you're worried about being on time." He whined.

"Out Mr. Stabler." She ordered playfully.

"You are an evil woman." He joked as he pulled away from her.

She swatted his butt as he made his way out of the bathroom right before shutting the door quickly so that she could get ready to get back to work.

"Evil!" She heard him shout on final time from outside the door. His ability to make her smile amazed her. She turned on the shower, and prepared for the day.

Somehow Elliot and Olivia were able to make it to work on time.

They were greeted with, "Well, if it isn't the happy couple now." From Fin.

"Good to see you too Fin." Olivia smiled as she put her things in her locker. "Miss me much?"

"I was partnered back with John. I missed your ass every day." He laughed.

Munch just shot him a look.

"I don't know how much I like the idea of you missing my wife's ass." Elliot jested.

"The real question is, how does Olivia feel about me missing her husband's ass?" Munch asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Uh, you just crossed the line man." Elliot said, laughing loudly as he went over to his desk.

"Far be it from me to get in the way of true love." Olivia laughed, sitting down across from Fin.

"What did you convert my desk into a trash can while I was gone?" Elliot asked as he picked through files, and half eaten food that Munch had let overflow onto his desk in his absence. He desperately wanted to change the topic of conversation.

Cragen interrupted the good hearted jesting when he came out of his office and cleared his throat to get his detective's attention.

"Benson, Stabler, welcome back." He said in a friendly tone, but everyone could tell that something was wrong. "I hope you enjoyed your time off, but, unfortunately, the scum of the city don't take vacations. Munch and Fin are already working a case, so you two are gonna be partnered for this one."

"Where are we going?" Olivia asked, ready to be productive again.

"Judge Anderson's apartment." He said somberly.

"Why?" Olivia asked, concerned.

"Someone killed him this morning." He said. "I just got the call."

Olivia was shocked. She hadn't even thought about him since her recovery. "Damnit." She cursed. "I should have shot the bastard who tried to kill him on the courthouse steps."

"It's not your fault Liv. You did everything you could. Now I need to you to find out who killed him." Cragen said.

"We're on it." Elliot answered for her, raising to get his coat.

After hesitating for a moment, Olivia got up behind him, and followed him out.

As the two climbed into the sedan, Elliot simply said, "Honey, we're home."

**TBC... Like I said, I'm going to try to update as frequently as I can, but have patience with me, and please keep looking for updates! Thanks again to everyone who's been following my stories, and I hope you all enjoy this one!**

**REVIEW!  
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	2. Discovery

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Hey look, I got this update up really really soon, unfortunately, don't get used to it lol! Thanks for all the reviews, I love em!!**

**Discovery**

Olivia was silent for the entire ride over to the judge's brownstone. She kept blaming herself, even though deep down she knew that she did everything she could have done. She almost died to save that man's life.

"Stop blaming yourself." Elliot said, not even having to take his eyes off the road to know what was going on.

Olivia shook her head and smiled. "I hate it when you do that." She said.

"What? Read your mind?" He asked, gazing at her quickly before turning his attention back to city traffic. "It may not even be the same perp." He said, trying to comfort her.

"Why would more than one person want to kill him? We searched this man's life El. He didn't do anything, and there have been no recent threats on his life." She answered.

"Let's just wait till we get to the scene to jump to any conclusions." He said, putting his hand on her thigh as added comfort.

Olivia responded by sighing, and turning her gaze out her window.

When they arrived at the scene, Warner was already examining the body.

Olivia was the first to approach the cautioned off house. She flashed her badge at the cop who was standing at the perimeter. "I'm Detective Benson; this is my partner, Detective Stabler, what do we got?" She asked bending low to get under the tape, with Elliot right behind her.

"Neighbor called this morning after seeing a guy dressed in jeans and a white tee-shirt, covered in blood, leave. Woman said she called the house a few times, and when Judge Anderson didn't answer, she got worried. One of our guys went in to check things out, and found the Judge dead. We woulda called it into homicide, but after seeing the… foreign object… we decided to call you guys." The cop said as he led Elliot and Olivia into the living room of the house.

"Thank you." Olivia said, dismissing the cop, and excusing herself and Elliot to talk to Warner.

There, in the middle of the floor was a body covered with a white cloth. Warner was bent down taking notes. There was a blood pool on the carpet under him, but nothing else could be seen.

Warner dropped the cloth, and rose to meet them.

"Welcome back. How was Hawaii?" She asked before filling them in.

"Warm." Olivia said simply. There was something not right going on, she could feel it from the time she sat in Jusge Anderson's courtroom to testify for Lizzie.

"It was good to get away from all of this and relax for a change." Elliot added trying to make up for his wife's terseness.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun. From the sound of it you two had a better week then our Judge." Warner said.

"What happened to him?" Olivia asked.

"Well, without examination, I would say the cause of death was a single bullet to the head, probably inflicted after the sodomy." She said.

"Someone sodomized him?" Elliot asked, unsure as to why anyone would do that. "You only do that if you have a pretty personal vendetta against someone."

"You're the cops, I just report the findings." Warner answered.

"I don't understand, we searched through this guy's background; we talked to him. He told us no one had a problem with him." Elliot thought out loud.

"Everyone has secrets." Warner mumbled as she went back to examining her body.

"Yeah, looks like Judge Anderson's got him killed." Elliot muttered. "Let's look around." He suggested to Olivia, who was already scanning the room.

Elliot started looking around the entry way to try to figure out how the killer got in, while Olivia took to the living room.

"Looks like forced entry." Elliot called, noting the scratch marks on the keyhole. "Looks like our perp jimmied the lock."

Olivia was only half listening. Something was bothering her about this case. Her eyes fell on the mantel of the Judge's fire place. There was a row of photos in mismatching frames. Most of the pictures contained images of the good Judge with various blondes that were so young, they could have been his daughter.

"Someone was a playboy." She muttered as she examined each photograph. When her eyes fell on the last picture in the row, her breath caught in throat. "Elliot." She called over her shoulder.

Elliot knew that tone; he had been partnered with Olivia long enough. It was the tone that indicated that she had found something.

He made his way across the first floor to join Olivia in front of the mantel. "Hmm, Judge Anderson liked em young." He noted seeing the pictures.

"Why does he have this?" She asked, staring at a picture frame that she held in her hands.

"Have what?" He asked, peering over her shoulder. In the frame he saw a familiar image. It was of him and Olivia during their first dance at their wedding. They both looked so happy as they gazed into each other's eyes.

"I didn't even know he was there." Elliot noted.

"Why would he have this?" She repeated.

"Maybe because he was grateful that you saved his life." Elliot suggested. He didn't seem to be all that concerned.

"You don't find it strange that a dead judge has a picture of us from our wedding on his mantel?" She asked.

"The man was never married, and had no kids. Maybe he got tired of only looking at superficial girlfriends when he looked through his pictures." He said.

Olivia just shook her head, something just did not add up. "I'm gonna keep looking around." She said, returning the photo to its spot among the blonds.

She cautiously made her way to the second floor, searching for anything that would indicate what had happened in that house.

She soon came upon the master bedroom, and went in slowly. She scanned the tops of the dresser and night stand. Olivia noticed that there was nothing cluttering up any of the spaces in the room other than a few more pictures of very young, good looking women. She made her way to the closet.

Upon first inspection, Olivia could tell that this man had been a little anal. His walk in closet was organized to a tee. Hanging on the higher rack of the closet were all his shirts. All the dress shirts were hung together, then came casual sweaters; then long sleeved shirts, then short sleeved shirts. On the rack under the shirts were all his pants, also hung in categories. Everything was color coded. Shoe boxes lined the back of the closet, each with a picture of the shoe they contained on the outside.

"Find anything?" Elliot asked, peering into the room from the door way.

"Besides the fact that this closet is more organized than our whole apartment?" She asked.

Elliot opened one of the drawers on the Judge's dresser. Judge Anderson's drawers were as organized as his closet was. All the clothes were folded neatly and in color order.

"Wow, if I hadn't seen his collection of girlfriends, I would have said this man really needed a hobby." Elliot noted.

Olivia made her way through the closet. As she looked around she noticed that there was a shelf at the top. She grabbed a chair from the room to stand on so that she could examine the shelf. She found boxes labeled as, "stamp collection", "Mom's China", "Christmas Decorations", etc. Then she saw something in the back that didn't have any indicating marks on it. She reached back, and pulled it down.

She opened the box with her gloved hand, and was confused as to what she saw. "I've heard of guys keeping panties of their conquests, but ID cards?" She asked, more to herself than to Elliot.

The box contained college IDs of various women. "He really did like them young." She mumbled.

Elliot continued searching through the judge's room when heard Olivia gasp, and a box hit the ground.

**TBC... review!!! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist, although, I'm pretty sure that most of you know what is going to happen!!! **


	3. His Secret

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Okay, so this is the last chapter that I had pre-written so the updates will take a little longer, sorry!**

**His Secret**

"You okay in there?" Elliot asked when he heard the box fall to the floor. When there was no response he walked into the closet.

He found Olivia standing in the center of the closet with IDs scattered on the floor around her feet and the box lying overturned.

"What's wrong?" He asked. She was staring at an ID in her hand.

She slowly turned her head to meet his gaze. There were tears in her eyes, and her breathing was quick and frantic.

"Liv, what is it?" He asked, growing concerned.

"It's... it's my mother's." She said hoarsely.

"What do you mean?" He asked, hurrying over to her to get a look at the ID.

"It's my mom's." She repeated, more clearly this time.

He took the ID from her so that he could look at it. "Why would Judge Anderson have your mom's ID?"

Olivia felt her legs giving out under her. Fortunately she had brought the chair in. She let herself fall into it.

Elliot's attention went right back to her when he noticed the way she was reacting.

"When she was raped… he… she told the cops on her case that he took her ID, to remember her by." She told him, staring off into space. "He knew. He knew the whole time." She rambled.

"Liv, what are you talking about?" He asked, kneeling in front of her to try to get her attention.

Olivia sniffed, and attempted to blink her tears away. "In court, when the bailiff swore me in. Anderson questioned me on my last name. He knew who I was. That's why he was at the wedding. That's why he has that picture. That's why he reacted so strangely."

"We don't know that he was your father." He said, trying to calm her down.

"My mother was only raped once Elliot." She sanapped, almost yelling. "The bastard took her ID card when he was done. Why the hell else would he have it?" She demanded. She looked to him with pleading eyes glistening with tears.

When he couldn't answer her she just shook her head, and stared down at the card. "I think I'm gonna be sick." She said suddenly.

Elliot quickly helped her up and chased her down the stairs and out of the brown stone. She proceeded to get sick in the first garbage can she could find. Elliot decided to give her some space; he knew she hated people seeing her like this, especially him.

"Is everything okay over here Detectives?" A CSI who was processing the scene asked.

"We're fine." Elliot answered as Olivia wiped her mouth with a napkin from her pocket. "You find anything?"

"The lock was definitely picked, and it looks like our perp surprised the judge being that it doesn't look like there was much of a struggle." The young man answered. "As far as an identity for our killer, we're not having much luck." He sighed. "The whole place was wiped clean; we can't get a single print off any surfaces in the house."

"We're probably looking for a rape victim, or family member." Olivia chimed in; she was still standing off to the side of the Elliot and the CSI, attempting to settle her stomach by breathing deeply.

"What makes you say that?" The CSI asked.

"I found a box of college IDs in the Judge's bedroom, and I know for a fact that at least one of the women who belonged to them was raped. My guess is so were all the others." She told him.

"Would explain the sodomy." The CSI said. "I'll go bag the IDs." He added, excusing himself.

"You got any gum?" Olivia asked once the other man was back in the house.

Elliot reached into his pocket and pulled out an open pack. He extended it to her and she gratefully accepted a piece and popped it into her mouth.

"You okay?" He asked.

She simply deflected the question with, "We should let Cragen know about this", and walked back to the Sedan that was parked on the side of the road.

The partners rode back to the station house in silence. Elliot made the call to Cragen, but didn't say anything about Judge Anderson's relationship to Olivia; that was her secret to tell.

When they got back, the two immediately made their way to the squad room to attend the informal meeting Cragen had called to spread the information.

When they got there Cragen was already sitting on a desk in the squad room with a few detectives standing around him; Munch and Fin were among them. He had already set up a board with crime scene photos of the court house shooting on it, and a picture of the late Judge. They didn't have much information yet.

"Benson, Stabler, now that you're here, why don't you tell the class what you found." Cragen called out to them when he saw them enter the room.

They quickly hung their coats and headed into the middle of the group. Elliot decided to take this one.

"Well, it seems Judge Anderson wasn't as clean as we thought. We found a box filled with IDs of women we suspect were raped." He sighed.

"What makes you think they were raped? For all we know the judge liked IDs more than he liked panties." Munch noted.

"For one, our good Judge was sodomized before he was he was shot in the head, which to me reeks of revenge. For another thing, we know for a fact that one of the women was raped, and the perp took her ID after he was done." Elliot explained.

"Was she one of ours?" Fin asked.

Elliot simply shook his head.

"So how do we know she was raped?" He continued.

Elliot glanced over to Olivia and could see that she was starting to lose her cool.

When there was no answer Cragen pushed the issue. "How do we know she was attacked Elliot?"

"Because she was my mother." Olivia finally answered under her breath. She had her arms folded protectively across her chest, and looked like she wanted to just crawl into a ball and disappear.

"She what?" Cragen asked. He was shocked.

Olivia cleared her throat and forced her emotions to stay in check. She was going to treat this like any other case. "When I was looking through the Judge's closet I found a shoe box filled with college IDs. As I was going through them I noticed that one of them... were my mothers." She explained slowly. "After she was… after she was attacked, she told the detectives on her case that the man took her ID. They never recovered it."

There was silence for a long moment. It was hard to comprehend what Olivia was telling everyone.

"Okay people, this means we're looking at potential victims or victim's families for our doer. Munch, Fin, I want you to run down those vics and their families, see if anyone looks good for this." Cragen managed to say. He had to say something to end the silence. He knew that he had to talk to Olivia, but he wasn't about to call her out in front of the entire squad.

"Elliot, Olivia, I want you two to head over to the IT (a/n: I think that's the abbreviation for the Technical people) unit to see if you can get anything from the Judge's e-mails or phone records that'll point to a suspect." He ordered. "When you get back run Anderson's MO, see if there are any other victims we don't know about."

Everyone nodded and got up to leave right after Cragen finished giving out tasks. As Olivia was about to follow Elliot out the door Cragen called her back nonchalantly.

"What is it Cap?" She asked, acting as if she had no idea why he would want to talk to her.

"Can I keep you on this case Benson?" He asked, approaching her closely to avoid eavesdropping ears.

Olivia just sighed. "You always say you can't pick the Vic." She answered.

"That's not what I asked you." He told her. He kept his tone understanding, but firm enough to let her know that he wasn't about to compromise his case for her feelings.

Olivia took a deep breath to keep her emotions in check. "Look, Cap, I found out that my mother was raped when I was 12, and she was drunk." She took a moment to make sure she wouldn't lose it before she continued. "I told her I wanted to live with my father after she came home plastered again one night, and she told me what he was." She explained. "I finally realized why she was the way she was. That night… I vowed that I would find the man that did that to her. When I graduated the academy, I promised her that I would bring him to justice. I need to stay on this case." She said in a whisper, almost pleading with him.

Cragen sighed heavily. "You're a good detective Benson. I'll keep you on for now, but if I see one thing that could possibly compromise this case, you're off." He warned.

Olivia nodded her head. "Thank you."

"If… if you need to talk to Huang…" He began.

"I've had a long time to deal with this. I'm fine." She told him before turning to the door.

"Remember what I said Benson." He warned one more time before she disappeared outside.

Elliot was waiting for her in the hall. "What'd he say?" He asked.

"He just warned me to stay in check." She answered.

"Think you can?" He asked as they made their way down the stairs.

"Thanks for you vote of confidence." She said, shocked and a little hurt that he would even ask her that.

"Liv, you know I wouldn't ask that if he you hadn't been through so much because of him." He said, trying to redeem himself.

"I can handle it." She simply said harshly, pushing past him and walking away.

**TBC... tell me what u think, and like i said, I'm working hard to get the next update done, so have patience!**


	4. Talk to Me

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine**

**A/N: Okay, I am sooo sorry about the lack of updates! Like I can't even tell u, but school has been soo stressful. There are only three more weeks of class before finals though, so if u just put up with me a little longer, I promise that I will get better. I probably lost most of my readers, but for those that have stuck with me and my annoyance, thanks! Again, there may be a long time until the next update, but it will come I promise. I am still very much into this story, and have so many ideas for it.**

**Also, I started writing this before they found Olivia's brother in the show, so it's not going to follow that. Also, obviously, being that Elliot and Olivia are married, him and Kathy are still very much divorced (I don't know what Dick Wolf is planning to do with that in the next few episodes :( )**

**Anyway, for those have stuck with me, despite the lack of updates, thanks sooo much, you are the best! And I promise, as soon as school is over, updates will come in a timley manner!**

**Talk to Me**

**(A/N: Recall: Elliot and Olivia are checking phone records and e-mails with the Tech People, and Munch and Fin were tracking down records for all Judge Anderson's victims; Cragen warned Oliva that if she couldn't remain professional on the case, he would pull her, and Elliot voiced his concern)**

"You get anything?" Cragen asked when Munch and Fin returned to the bullpen. Elliot and Olivia had yet to return.

"Just that this whole damn system is messed up." Fin huffed as he plopped into his desk chair. "There were twenty IDs in that shoe box. Each woman gave the same description of their rapist to cops for over thirty years, and no one even batted an eye at Anderson cause he's on the bench."

"Anderson wasn't on the bench the entire 30 years he was attacking women." Cragen sighed. "Did you get anything on them?"

"They're all clean." Munch stated.

"This has revenge killing written all over it." Cragen huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against on of the desks. "We'll have to take to each of them, and any immediate family members."

"Does anyone, other than me, have a problem with harassing rape victims and their families?" Fin asked, straightening up in his chair. "This dude ruined Benson's childhood in ways we're never gonna know, and now we're supposed to bring in the person who took him off the streets?" He continued. "This guy's been shattering women's lives for over 30 years. His doer should get a medal, not harassed by us." Fin finished his tone dangerously insubordinate.

"While I understand your point, it's not our jobs to decide who is and who isn't allowed to commit a crime. Someone breaks the law, we bring them in. It's as simple as that. If you've got a problem with it, you don't have to be on this case." Cragen countered.

"It's just wrong. That's all I'm sayin." He simply huffed under his breath.

Before Cragen and Fin could continue, Elliot and Olivia walked in from TARU (A/N: thanks guys!! This is the actual name for the technichal unit)

"Please tell me you two have something." Cragen almost pleaded.

"Anderson was getting about twenty phone calls a week from the same number; none lasting any more than a minute." Olivia said, handing copies of the phone logs around the circle of officers.

"Just enough time to say a few threatening words and hang up." Cragen noted. "Please tell me we can get a trace on this."

"Fraid not. Pre-paid cell." Elliot answered.

"So then we're back to where we started. We know nothing." Cragen huffed.

"We know that Anderson was a rapist." Olivia mumbled under her breath.

Cragen ignored her, and continued with what he had to do. "Okay, I want you four to split the list of victims in half. Each pair take one half, and interview them and any close family. Start off trying to find out who knew who their attackers were, and go from there."

"Cap, what if we're barking up the wrong tree?" Olivia interjected. It was one thing working this case, but she didn't know if she'd be able to accuse people who had been hurt in the way her mother had been.

"This case stinks of revenge. This is the only taint we can find on Anderson's record. Until we get another lead, we follow this one down." Cragen said.

"Anderson was a big guy Cap; do you really think any of those women in those IDs could have over powered him long enough to sodomize him?" She pressed.

"That's why we're also looking at the victim's families." He re-iterated.

"I just don't think that we should put all our resources in harassing rape victims. They've been through enough." She fought, her voice stern.

"Well unfortunately, they're the only suspects we have at the moment. Anderson is the victim now, and it's our job to do whatever we can to bring his murderer to justice. If you have a problem with that Detective, no one is making you stay on this case." He said in a reprimanding tone.

Olivia huffed heavily. "Fine." She simply answered, making her disgust known. She grabbed the folder of names from Fin's hand huffed into one of the meeting rooms.

No one said anything. They all knew that this had to be getting to her, but no one wanted to be the one to say it.

"I'll talk to her." Elliot offered. In addition to be being his partner for his this case, she was his wife too after all.

He made his way across the bullpen and cautiously pushed open the door to the room Olivia had just disappeared into.

She heard him, but decided to ignore his presence.

He closed the door gently to give them some privacy.

"Cragen's right you know. You don't have to stay on this case if it's too hard." He said from behind her.

"It's not too hard. I can do it." She said simply, not turning to face him. Elliot could tell that she was fighting tears.

"Liv, no one's gonna think any less of you if you take a back seat on this one. Anderson raped your mother; you shouldn't be expected to bring his killer to justice." Elliot tried, keeping his stance by the door. He knew that Olivia would acknowledge him when she was ready.

"I'm not sorry he's dead Elliot." She said, sniffing quickly. "What he did… he deserved what he got. But I can't be taken off this case. I have to know what happened." She shook her head and paused for a moment before continuing. "Half of my life has been missing for 30 years. I need to know who he was, no matter how horrible. And who knows, maybe I have family out there somewhere, maybe they'll want me."

Elliot had heard enough. He walked to her and knelt next to her. "You have family right here who wants you." He said, taking her hands in his. "You have a family right here who needs you."

She offered him a weak smile.

"Now, I know that you can do this, but you don't have to. You have nothing you need to prove to any of us." He continued. "You know just as well as I do that you're gonna see your Mom in every one of those women." He said, indicating the folder, unopened on the table. "Do you really think you're gonna be able to be objective on this one?" He asked.

Olivia was silent for a moment. "I need to know who killed him." She stated under her breath, staring past Elliot.

"Are you going to be able to arrest that person?" He asked.

The tears that were threatening to fall finally won their battle, and started silently streaming down Olivia's cheeks. She pushed Elliot out of the way, and propelled herself out of the chair and across to the window in the room. She folded her arms tightly against her body, and willed herself to focus on anything going on outside that room; outside of her.

"It's okay if you can't." Elliot simply said, trying to find the right words to console her. "This doesn't mean that you're any less of a cop. We all have our limits."

"That's not what's making me upset." She said, letting out a small laugh.

"Then what is it?" He pushed, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

She shuddered under his touch, but he didn't let go.

"Talk to me." He urged her.

"I can't arrest the person that killed him because I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing if given the chance." She finally blurted out. As she made her confession her tears opened up, and she became angry.

She spun around, and pushed her husband away from her. She didn't feel that she deserved him there holding her.

"If I had known who he was back in that courtroom, I can't say that I wouldn't have taken out my gun and shot the bastard myself!" She said, yelling now. "He ruined my childhood; he killed my mother! He deserved what he got, and I only wish that I had gotten to be the one to pull the trigger! What the hell does that make me Elliot? What kind of monster? I'm no better than he is." She said, finally collapsing into sobs.

Elliot rushed to catch her before her weeping body fell to the floor. He sat there, in the middle of the cold cinderblock room, with Olivia breaking in his arms.

"I almost gave up my life for him." She whispered after what seemed like forever of nothing but the sound of sobs. "He came to our wedding. He had a picture of 'his daughter' on her wedding day on his mantel. He died thinking that I actually gave a damn about him." She said.

"You were doing your job." Elliot answered, taking her face in his hands. He wiped the hair out of her face. It was sticking to her cheeks because of her drying tears.

"But I hate that Elliot. I wish that he died knowing the truth; that he was alone in this world. That he was alone, and that no body gave a damn if he lived or died. I wish that the last thing that man saw in life was his 'little girl' pulling the trigger to end his sorry life." She said, pausing to catch her breath. "And that makes me just as bad as him."

"You are nothing like him." Elliot said firmly. "No one can blame you for wanting to take revenge for your mother. You watched her go through things that no daughter should ever have to see her mother go through. Anderson had no reason to end your mother's life the way he did. You have every reason to want to see him dead. That doesn't make you a monster, it only makes you human." He said, stroking her cheek gently.

He could tell that Olivia still didn't believe him, so he continued. "Olivia, your father was a cold man, who didn't care about anyone but himself. You couldn't be more opposite. I've watched you Liv. He hurt people, you help them. You save victim's lives every day. You save my life every day. You're a natural with my kids. You'd never hurt anyone, unless provoked. He takes lives, you save them. There's a difference." He finished.

"Cragen was right." She answered, after seriously taking what he had said to her to heart. "I can't be on this case anymore. It's too hard."

"I'll let him know." Elliot assured her gently.

"Thank you." She whispered, burying her head into Elliot's chest.

"You don't have to thank me for anything. I was just reminding you of the truth." He smiled, stroking her hair gently.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you." She said, lifting her head to meet his gaze for the first time since the beginning of their encounter.

"You were just you." He answered, kissing her softly. "I'll go let Cragen know. You get washed up." He said, before finally releasing her.

As Olivia walked out of the room and into the nearest ladies room, Elliot silently thanked God for letting Olivia trust him enough to break down like that in front of him. He prayed for Him to give her the strength to get through this, and then made his way across the bullpen to his Captain's office.

**TBC... Again, the next update may take a while, but it will come! REVIEW! (please)**


	5. Suspects

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**Summary: See ch1**

**A/N: Sorry again that this is taking sooo long to update. Now that it's summer, I'm working on updating more frequently. Thanks for sticking with me everyone!**

**Suspects**

Olivia set to work on paper work she needed to catch up on while Elliot, Munch, and Fin took over one of the interrogation rooms to track down each of Judge Anderson's victims.

"I still say that this is wrong. We should be giving whoever offed this guy a medal, not arresting them." Fin huffed as he read through a file.

"I think we all agree with you, my disgruntled friend, but Cragen's right, we don't get to make the rules. It's out jobs to enforce the law, and murder is breaking it." Munch sighed, reading his own file.

"At least we can finally tell these women that their rapist is off the streets." Elliot noted. "Some of them have been living with this for decades."

"Who do we wanna call in first?" Munch asked, he got up and stood in front of the board of pictures the group had set up to keep organized.

Elliot joined him. "Well." He said, thinking for a moment. "Considering that Corrine, Maggie, Julie, Jen, and Mora live on the west coast; I guess they're moved to the back of the pile." He said, grouping their pictures together on the board.

"Jill and Katie both live down South." Fin interjected, causing Elliot to group them together, and move their pictures near the previous five.

"Stacy, Angela, and… Serena… are deceased." Munch said quietly. "They're out." He took them off the board completely, stopping a moment to look at the picture of Olivia's mother. "Looks just like her." He sighed.

"Let's move on." Elliot said, bringing everyone back to the task at hand. The less he had to be reminded that he was bringing in the person who had killed the man responsible for the death of his wife's mother, the better. (A/N: wow that was a mouthful! LOL)

"What about the other ten women?" He asked.

"Bret, Melanie, and Stephanie are MIA." Munch said, grouping them together. "Jordan, Carolyn, Francis, and Nora are on the East Coast, but not in New York anymore." He said, again, grouping them.

"So that leaves us with Anna, Juliana, and Samantha still living in the New York area." Elliot noted, grouping them, and putting them in the center of the board. "I say we start with them, and then move out from there."

"And what are we supposed to say to these women? Hi, the man who's been haunting your dreams for the past thirty years or so is dead, oh, and we think you may have had something to do with it?" Fin asked.

"Look, Fin, I understand that you don't like the idea of this, but I don't like it any more. In fact, I bet I like it less than you, being that this case is killing my wife. But there's nothing we can really do about it, so in the future, can you keep your comments to yourself?" Elliot snapped. "I'll call the first three." He said after composing himself. He grabbed their files, and huffed out of the room.

Olivia stood, concealed by the two way mirror, as Elliot sat in one of the interrogation rooms with Anna Williams, raped by Judge Anderson fifteen years ago. Cragen and Casey stood at her side, watching the interrogation with one eye, and watching her with the other.

"Thanks for coming down here Anna." Elliot said in a friendly tone, placing a cup of coffee in front of her. "I'm afraid that it's not great, but my colleague Detective Munch didn't make it today, so it's not toxic." He said with a smile, eliciting a small chuckle from the woman.

Olivia couldn't get over how much she resembled her mother. She had short blonde hair, and kind eyes, that reminded her all too well of the broken hope her mother's eyes held.

Anna Williams was a little older than Olivia, but looked ages older. Olivia could tell that she was uneasy, not sure why she has been called in.

Elliot took a seat across from Anna. "You're probably wondering why we called you here." Elliot said, not wanting to conduct this interview.

Anna took a sip of her coffee and simply nodded her head.

"You were raped 15 years ago." Elliot began. Abba immediately began getting teary. Her face fell.

"Did you get him?" She asked her voice void of any emotion.

Elliot slid a photo array across the table to the woman. "Do you see him in that array?" He asked. He needed to know if she could identify her attacker.

"It's been so long." She breathed, taking the array, but not being able to force herself to look at it. "What if I don't pick the right man?"

"Mrs. Williams, if you could just try." Elliot persuaded her.

Anna took a deep breath, and peered down at the photo array. "It's been so long." She said again. "All these men look so much alike." She breathed, pausing a moment, before her breath hitched in her throat.

"Do you see him?" Elliot asked.

"I could never forget those eyes. Those cold eyes." She simply said. She slid the array back to Elliot, and held her finger on the photo of the judge.

"What's going to happen to him?" She asked.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Elliot asked, avoiding her question for the moment.

"The night he raped me." She said angrily. "Who is he? Where is he? What's going to happen to him?" She demanded. "Did he tell you why he did this to me? What was his reason?" She continued, beginning to lose it.

"I'm afraid that we'll never know that. He's dead Mrs. Williams." Elliot told her, walking around the table to kneel in front of her.

Anna froze for a moment, and just stared at Elliot. "How?" She simply asked.

"He was killed in his apartment." Elliot told her gently.

Anna once again froze when the realization of what was going on hit her. "You, you think I had something to do with it, don't you?" She asked, in disbelief.

"Mrs. Williams, we…" Elliot began.

"I didn't kill the son of a bitch." She said simply. "I wish that I had, but I had no idea who he was. He took away a part of my life that I'll never get back Detective, but I didn't kill him." She said sharply. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Williams, but, do you have an alibi for Tuesday night?" Elliot forced himself to ask

"You still think I did this?" Anna asked, clearly angered.

"It's procedure Mrs. Williams." Elliot explained.

"I was out to dinner with my husband. You can check with the restaurant. Call the sitter, we were home at midnight and then gave her a ride home." Anna spat. "Is that all, or would you like a DNA sample and fingerprints?" She demanded.

"No that won't be necessary." Elliot said apologetically. "I can have a uniformed officer escort you home."

"It's fine. I can get myself home." Anna huffed. "My son will be home in an hour, I don't want him to see me with a cop." She pushed her chair back in disgust, and stormed out of the precinct.

"That went well." Casey sighed as Anna stormed past her and Cragen. Elliot stood in the door of the interrogation room, squeezing the bridge of his nose due to the immense amount of stress he was under.

"Check her alibi." Cragen said. "If it checks out, we move on." He said, trying to ignore the fact that he had just watched a victim break down because of his orders.

"Captain, she clearly didn't have anything to do with this. You saw the way she looked at that photo array. She barely recognized him." Olivia argued.

"Liv, you know we have to check it out anyway." Elliot said.

"And how many more times are you going to do this? How many more victims are going to have to break down before you people realize that we're barking up the wrong tree?" She demanded.

"Two more today, and who the hell knows how many tomorrow. No one's making you watch Liv." Elliot snapped and then huffed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Olivia stood there shocked. Elliot never yelled at her like that.

After regaining her composure, she took a deep breath, and traced Elliot's steps out of the room in a huff.

"Like I said, that went well." Casey repeted.

"Just wait, we still have two more women coming in today." Cragen said somberly.

**Tbc... Tell me what you think. The next chapter is almost done, it should be up shortly. Thanks for sticking by me even though updates have been so sparse!**


	6. Questions

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Here's another chapter! Hope you like it!**

**Questions**

**_(In case you forgot Elliot just snapped at Olivia after she snapped at him for interrogating the victims)_**

"What the hell was that about?" Olivia demanded, throwing the locker room door open and barging in.

"I don't need this right now Olivia." He spat.

"Don't take that tone with me, I didn't do anything." She spat back.

"Do you think I like accusing these women of murder?" He asked indignantly. "You think I enjoy making victims feel like suspects? You think I give a damn if the person who did kill Anderson ever gets caught?" He questioned.

What she had done finally hit her. "I, I didn't mean it…" Olivia began. She reached out to touch his arm, but Elliot pulled away. "El…" She tried. "I know that you don't want to do this anymore than I would. I'm sorry." She apologized.

"I'm glad he's dead Olivia. I saw what he did to you. Hell, I wish that I had killed him." He said.

"This whole time I've assumed that I'm the only person Anderson affected. I'm sorry." Olivia apologized again, as she realized that he too was having a problem with this case. "Why don't you let Munch and Fin handle the other interviews?" Olivia suggested.

"I can handle it." Elliot argued.

"I know you can. But I don't know how much more I can take alone." She said, only half lying to persuade him.

"Alright. I'll step out of the next two." He sighed.

Olivia squeezed his hand lightly before turning and heading back into the bullpen.

Within half an hour Munch was set up in the same interrogation room Elliot had been in. He was with Samantha Corrigan. She had been raped by Anderson only 5 years ago. Once again, Olivia stood outside the room with Cragen and Casey looking on. This time she had Elliot by her side.

Before the interview could begin, Fin came in with a paper in his hand.

"You talk to Juliana already?" Cragen asked. Juliana Stevens had arrived at the station house only moments before Samantha. Fin had been interrogating her in one of the other rooms.

"Her alibi checks out." Fin simply said.

"You cleared it that fast?" Casey asked, reaching for the file in his hand.

"Seems Juliana has a routine she follows every night." He explained as Casey skimmed the photos and documents the file contained.

"Juliana got pregnant as a result of her rape." He began. Olivia could feel her heart stop at the possibility that she could have some family out there. "She aborted it." He continued, not making eye contact with Olivia. He didn't need to see her to know the sadness and shame that would be on her face. "The abortion took place at 11 p.m. It seems that every night, at 11 she goes to the cemetery to visit the grave. All I had to do was call the grounds keeper, he knows her by name." He sighed.

"Depending on what time she left, she still could have killed Anderson." Casey suggested

"Cemetery's in Jersey. Juliana didn't want her family to know that she was pregnant. There's no way she could have made it back in time to off Anderson." He explained.

"And you're sure the grounds keeper remembers seeing her there on the night of the murder?" Cragen checked.

"They had a 20 minute conversation about life and death. He's positive." Fin answered.

"What about family?" Casey asked. "Could they have done it?"

"Not likely, being that she never told any of them." Fin revealed.

"I guess Samantha is our last lead." Cragen sighed.

Elliot could feel Olivia begin to quiver next to him. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, fine. Just a little dizzy." She said holding her head.

Cragen rushed over with a chair and helped Elliot ease her into it. "Maybe you've had enough today Benson." He suggested.

"No, I'm fine. I just, I haven't eaten today. I'll get something after this interrogation. I promise." She argued.

"Make sure she does." Cragen told Elliot.

"I'm still here boys." She said rolling her eyes.

Cragen just shook his head and turned his attention back to the interview as it began.

"Mrs. Corrigan, can you remember anything about the incident that happened to you 5 years ago?" Munch asked, starting off with the barest of references.

"You mean the night I was raped I presume?" She questioned.

Samantha was around 30 years old. She had light eyes, and blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. To look at her, one wouldn't assume that she had been the victim of something so horrific.

"You would presume correctly." Munch said over his glasses.

"I remember every horrid moment." She said her voice void of emotion.

"If I showed you a photo array of possible suspects, could you pick out the man that raped you?" He asked.

"Of course I could. That face has been burned into my memory ever since the day he took everything away from me." She said, her eyes beginning to tear. "The sketch artist who worked my case even complimented me on my attention to detail when he made the sketch." She noted, seemingly proud of herself.

Munch slid the photo array over to her. She glanced at it, and quickly picked out Judge Anderson's photo. "That's him, that's the bastard who raped me." She said, her face now becoming wet with tears. "Why? What is this all about?"

"He's dead Mrs. Corrigan. Someone killed him Tuesday night." Munch told her.

"Good. It's about time someone rid the world of that evil." She said, wiping at her tears.

"Mrs. Corrigan, can you tell me where you were on Tuesday night, around 11?" Munch asked carefully.

Samantha stared at him for a moment. "You think I had something to do with this?" She asked indignantly.

"It's standard procedure Mrs. Corrigan." Munch explained.

"My son was sick. I was sitting on the bathroom floor while he threw up all night. Ask my husband or my mother, they were both there. If that's not good enough, you can call the doctor. I was on the phone with him starting at 11:15. I remember because I had been timing how long my son had been getting sick for. I was getting worried he would dehydrate." She said, her eyes appearing blank.

"Thank you Mrs. Corrigan." Munch said. "I'll have an officer escort you home."

"No need. My husband's waiting for me in the lobby." She said, excusing herself from the room.

**TBC... I know, not the most exciting chapter, but it has a lot of information that will be needed later in the story. Tell me what you think!**


	7. Going on a Hunch

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine**

**A/N: So here is the next chapter I promised... I kno that a lot of this story is taking place in the precinct and has to do with the case itself, and there is less Elliot and Olivia action than I normally write, but the plot of this story is more case driven then driven by stuff going on outside of the precinct; you will see Elliot and Olivia outside of the precinct, but not for a few chapters, sry guys! Anyway, I hope u enjoy this chapter!**

**Going on a Hunch**

The first person Samantha saw when she left the interrogation room was Olivia. She was standing with Elliot behind her. Samantha had already begun to cry.

"Can you tell me where the ladies room is?" She asked, attempting to keep her emotions in check.

"It's down the hall and to the right when you leave the bullpen." Olivia answered. "I'll take you." She said, realizing that Samantha had no idea what she was talking about.

The two women walked out of the interrogation room past a man who looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He rose from his seat when Olivia and Samantha passed them.

"You okay Babe?" He asked when he saw the look on Samantha's face. Olivia realized that this man was the husband.

"I'm fine. This detective is just showing me where the bathroom is." She said, not stopping to look at her husband.

Olivia showed Samantha to the bathroom, and then made her way back to where her husband was standing.

"Did you guys get the bastard?" He asked.

"I'm sorry?" Olivia asked. She wasn't supposed to talk about a case to anyone outside the force.

"The bastard who raped my wife. Did you get him?" Jim Corrigan repeated.

"You know about him?" She asked.

"Of course I do. My wife was raped 5 years ago. We've been married for 10. I watched what he did to her. She hasn't been the same since that night; with me or our son." He said, his voice cracking.

"I'm sorry Mr. Corrigan." Olivia apologized.

"Did you get the guy? Or are you just gonna let him walk again?" He demanded.

"Jim, you ready? We have to get home to get Jake off the bus." Samantha said from behind him. If Olivia hadn't brought her to the bathroom, she would never have known that moments ago she had been crying.

He looked back to Olivia before his wife took his hand and gently tugged it so that he would follow her down the hall.

Olivia never got the chance to give him an answer.

When she got back to her desk, her colleagues were already gathered around their desks discussing their three interviews.

"Looks like our three New Yorkers are clean." Munch stated.

"Have we checked out the families?" Cragen asked.

"We're still working on it, but it doesn't look like any of these women knew who their attackers were." Fin told him.

"Alright. Well, finish up the checks on the families, and start tracking down the vics from the East Coast. Looks like we're gonna have to expand our search." He sighed before turning back to his office.

"You okay Liv?" Fin asked as he took his seat in the desk across from hers. "You're lookin a little pale."

"What? Oh, I'm fine." She said, being pulled from her thoughts back into the real world.

"You said you'd get something to eat after the interview." Elliot reminded her.

"I wasn't aware that you guys were my baby sitters." She scoffed.

"Liv, we're just looking out for you." Munch argued.

"Fine." She huffed, pushing her chair away from her desk. "I'll go get something to eat."

"We can bring something in." Elliot called after her.

"No, I am perfectly capable of getting food on my own." She shouted back. She hated being babied like this. She was a grown woman, and could take care of herself.

Olivia scanned the vending machine where she would be selecting her sandwich from. Nothing looked appetizing to her. She would never let the guys know, but this case was getting to her more than even she realized. For the past few days, she hadn't been able to keep anything down, and had almost completely lost her desire to put anything into her mouth for fear of losing it.

Her eyes finally fell on the only thing that she could even think about eating, vending machine potato salad. Ironically enough, it was the only thing she could think of eating without getting queasy.

She brought her salad back to her desk and began eating it while once again working on backed up paper work.

Olivia tried to concentrate, but something was bothering her. It was something Jim Corrigan had said to her. _"Did you get the guy, or are you gonna let him walk again."_ What had he meant by _again_?

On a hunch Olivia frantically typed the Judge's address into her computer. "Crap. It would be the 15th precinct's jurisdiction." She mumbled under her breath.

Olivia pulled out her phone, and made her way into the ladies room so she would have some privacy for the phone call she really didn't want to make. She dialed a number that was once very familiar to her.

"_Detective Colberg 15__th__ precinct."_ A deep, husky voice said over the other end.

"Keith, it's Olivia." She simply said.

"_Olivia. Wow, I didn't think I'd ever hear from you again. Wasn't it you that said, and I quote, 'I think we should see other people, don't call me.'?" _He asked.

"That was 3 years ago Keith." Olivia huffed. "Look, I need a favor, and you know that if it wasn't important, I wouldn't be calling."

"_A favor? You led me on for three months Olivia. You dated me, you kissed me, you slept with me, and then you were out the door before I even got the 'you' out in 'I love you'." _He argued.

"Keith, we were only together three months. I wasn't expecting that so soon." She said rolling her eyes. "And I wasn't leading you on. I really did care about you." She added indignantly.

"_Yeah, well I never expected you to say that you loved me back, but I also didn't expect you to respond by saying 'I think we should see other people.'" _He pressed.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you Keith, but I really need this. Please." She said, almost begging.

After a brief silence, Keith finally answered. _"What is it?"_

"I need to know if your precinct ever looked at Michael Anderson for sexual assault, or anything else in the past five years." She told him.

"_That's a matter of public record Livvy. You don't need my help."_ He told her, using her old pet name.

"His record is clean. If you guys had anything on him, it was expunged." She explained.

"_If any record was expunged, then chances are that the guy was innocent."_ Keith debated.

"Or, he was a Judge who didn't want a record, so someone somewhere did him a favor." Olivia debated back.

"_If that was the case, how would I be able to find anything on him?"_ Keith asked.

"Come on Keith, you and I both know that records don't just disappear all together. There has to be a hard copy laying around your precinct somewhere." She reasoned.

"_I can look, see what I can find in the archives; but it may take a while." _He finally said, giving in.

"Thank you. This means a lot to me." She said.

"_I don't suppose you can tell me what you need this for?"_ He asked.

"Just a hunch." Olivia answered simply.

"_I'll give you a call if I find anything. Oh, and Olivia, I… I miss you." _He said almost inaudibly.

Olivia just shook her head. She was afraid that it would come to this. He had told her that he loved her three months into their relationship when they dated three years ago. She broke his heart by leaving. He wanted to marry her. She had hoped he would be over her by now, but it appeared that she was wrong.

"It wasn't meant to be Keith. I'm sorry that I hurt you." She simply explained.

"_Not your fault. You don't get to pick who you love. Believe me, I know."_ He said gently. _"I better get started; we have a lot of archives. Bye Olivia."_ He said before hanging up.

Olivia just sighed, ran a hand through her hair, and headed back to work.

**TBC... I know, nothing really happened in this chapter, but I am laying the ground work for later chapters, it has to come sometime... Review and tell me what you think!!**


	8. Information

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: As I have been posting new chapters I have noticed that this story is a lot more case driven than my previous have been, but in order for me to write how the case effects the gang in their personal lives, I have to first explain the case. There are a few more chapters that are mainly case, but I am also writing a lot that are Elliot and Olivia driven later in the story. Thanks for all the reviews I have been getting, they are really helpful, I even decided to take the story in a new direction after reading one of the reviews! You guys have been great and please stick with me. I added some personal stuff in this chapter. Tell me what you're thinking!**

**Information**

"You can go home you now." Elliot said from his desk to Olivia. It was almost midnight, and he, Munch, and Fin were stuck there attempting to contact more of Judge Anderson's victims.

"I know." Olivia answered. "I'm just waiting on a phone call for something I'm working on." She told him.

"You want some coffee, or something other than potato salad to hold you over?" He asked, noticing that that was the only thing she had been eating lately.

"I'm fine thanks." She said with a smile. As much as it annoyed her, there was something sweet about him looking out for her well being.

"You want another water bottle?" He asked. He had also noticed that she had been sucking down water like a camel.

"Actually, that would be great. Thanks." She said with a smile.

Munch just rolled his eyes at Fin to express his disgust. "I think I liked them better when they were biting each other's heads off." He joked.

"If you wanted something darling all you had to do was ask." Elliot called over his shoulder from the refrigerator that was kept in the precinct.

"I'm fine dear, but it would be nice to be asked once in a while." John said, continuing the good natured banter.

"Like I said the other day, if you two want to be alone, just say the word." Olivia joined in.

"Thanks, but I'm perfectly happy with what I've got." Elliot said as he bent down to kiss the top of Olivia's head. He handed her the bottle and went back to his work as Olivia sat with a smile on her face.

"Why didn't you ever talk to me like that?" Fin asked Munch.

"I'm sorry pookie, but four ex-wives have drained all the mushy crap from me." He answered.

Before the innuendos could continue a man appeared in the door of the bullpen.

Elliot got up to greet him.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked.

"Yes, I was looking for Oliv… uh, Detective Benson. Is she here?" The man asked.

Olivia looked up from her work at the sound of her name. She gazed past Elliot to see Detective Keith Colberg standing there.

"Keith. You didn't have to come all the way down here." She said in surprise. She had planned on taking care of this on the phone.

"I figured you'd want a copy of the record." He answered, holding a file up. "Besides, it was on my way home anyway Livvy."

She got up from her chair. "Uh, why don't we talk about this in the other room, so we don't disturb my partners' work?" She said, indicating the three others in the bullpen.

She walked past Elliot and motioned for Keith to follow her.

"What was that about?" Fin asked.

"Probably what ever she's been working on all day." Munch answered.

"_Livvy_?" Elliot repeated. "Who the hell is that guy?"

"Relax Stabler. That woman is madly in love with you for reasons I can't yet figure out." Munch reassured him. "Now let's track down these women so you can bring her home."

In the other room Olivia stood with Keith. "What did you find?" She asked.

"Well, it seems that about 5 years ago a woman named Samantha Corrigan reported a rape. She was walking to her car from the NYU cafeteria, where she worked, when she was jumped from behind." He told her.

A vision of her mother being attacked in the same way shot through Olivia's mind, but she quickly pushed it aside.

"There were no suspects in the case, but then two years ago she walked into our precinct to report that she thought she had seen her attacker walking past the park she was sitting in with her son." He told her. "Mrs. Corrigan followed him to his home on Park Avenue, and then came to us to arrest him."

"What did you guys do about it?" She asked.

"According to the report, two officers were sent to his residence, and he was taken into our precinct and questioned." Keith told her.

"Why wasn't he arrested?" Olivia asked.

"After talking to him and Mrs. Corrigan, the officers didn't feel that there was enough evidence to pursue anything, so they let him go." He told her.

"A rape victim identified Anderson as his attacker and no one felt it was necessary to look further into it then to question him once?" Olivia asked astonished.

"At the time Judge Anderson had just sentenced a serial rapist/killer to life in jail rather than death. There were a lot of disgruntled people in this city. The officers just chalked her up as another fanatic." He explained.

"Yeah, well they were wrong." Olivia huffed. "How did she react?" She asked.

"She was horrified; begged her husband to move them out of the city when she found out that he lived only a few blocks away from them. But it was her husband that we were worried about." He told her.

"Why?" Olivia asked.

"He freaked out when he found out Anderson was being released. He attacked the two officers who questioned him, started yelling about how justice was a load of crap." He told her.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Olivia asked.

"Probably not. I didn't even remember until I re-read the file. You know this job; after every case, you try to just forget." He answered.

"Thanks Keith." Olivia smiled.

She turned to leave, but Keith gently reached out for her arm. "Liv, wait." He said.

"What?" She asked as she turned back to him.

"Is that really all this was about? Did you really call me for some trivial file?" He questioned.

"It's important to a case we're working." She told him honestly.

"What about me Liv?" He asked.

"Keith, the only reason I called was because you're the only person I know down at the 15th. I'm sorry if you thought this meant something more." She apologized.

"It could mean something more though. You can't tell me that you don't miss what we had." He said with a reminiscent smile.

"I'm married Keith." She told him bluntly. "And madly in love with my husband. I'm sorry."

Keith's face fell. "Congratulations." He said simply.

"Lemme walk you out." She said, as a way to smooth out the awkwardness that had just been created in the room.

"I know the way. Thanks." He said with a small smile. "I wish you the best Livvy." He said honestly.

Olivia squeezed his hand gently. "I wish the same for you. You're a great guy; good things are bound to come your way."

"I thought they already had." He answered with a sad smile. "Goodbye Olivia." With that he exited the room and left the precinct.

Olivia returned to her desk with a sigh. By the time she had returned Munch and Fin had both retreated to the cribs to try to get a few precious hours of sleep.

"What was that all about?" Elliot asked, not taking his eyes off a file that was in his hand.

"Nothing. I just needed a file for a case I'm working on. It's not important." She lied. She knew that the information she had clearly pointed to Samantha Corrigan's husband as the prime suspect in the Anderson murder, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted his killer to be caught.

"Detective Colberg seemed pretty happy to give you a hand there, _Livvy_." He said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"He's an old friend Elliot, I called in a favor." She answered, clearly annoyed. She was irritable, probably from all the hours she had been pulling, and was in no mood for his jealousy at the moment.

"Munch and Fin are your friends. If one of them even thought about calling you _Livvy_ I'm pretty sure you'd break one of their limbs." He answered, putting his file down so that he could look at her.

"We date, briefly, a few years ago. You happy now?" She asked bluntly.

"No wonder he was so happy to help." He snorted.

"I hate it when you act like this." She snapped, tossing her empty water bottle in the garbage next to her desk, and getting up to get another.

"Act like what?" He asked.

"Like a cave man." She answered. "You can't stand that I had a life before you. You were married for 20 years, and still have lunch with your ex-wife every once in a while, and you don't see me getting defensive." She snapped as she opened the fridge. "Why the hell are there no water bottles!" She demanded, quickly changing subjects.

:"First of all, Kathy and I only have lunch when we need to talk about the kids; second of all, I'm sorry if I get a little defensive, but you can't tell me that you'd get a little annoyed if Beck came in here and wanted to talk to me in private; and third of all, there was like 6 bottles in there this afternoon, you drank them all." He told her.

Olivia shut the fridge, and sat in a chair that was next to it. "What the hell is wrong with me?" She asked under her breath. It wasn't like her to be this iritable, or to be this thirsty for that matter. Her father even found ways to effect her even after he was dead.

"Look, Liv, I don't want to fight." Elliot said when he saw the look on her face. She must have been more overworked then he thought, being that she looked as if she were about to cry over a water bottle. He walked over to her. "We're both over worked and tired. Why don't we get some sleep."

"What's wrong with me Elliot?" She asked again as tears started streaming down her face.

"You're physically and emotionally drained." He said gently, wiping at her tears with his thumb.

"I'm crying over a water bottle." She said, the ridiculousness of it all resonating in her voice.

Elliot chuckled slightly. "Why don't I get one for you from the vending machine, and then we both head up to the cribs?" He asked.

"Okay." She said with a smile. She took his hand, and let him lead her out into the hall where the vending machines were.

"You eat anything all day?" He asked after noticing the food machine.

"Yeah, I had potato salad." She told him.

"That's it?" He asked.

"It's all I wanted. I don't really have much of an appetite." She confessed.

Elliot put the money in the machine, and pushed the button for water.

"Did you get sick at home the other night?" He asked as he handed the bottle to her.

"I think it was the Chinese." She lied. "How did you know?"

"I noticed the wet towel in the sink, and the toothpaste was out. You put all that away before you went to bed. Why didn't you wake me?" He asked.

Olivia sipped her water as the two made their way back to the bullpen.

"I'm a big girl Elliot. I can dead with a little food poisoning on my own." She smiled. "I'm fine now though, so let's just go to bed."

He decided to let it go, and the two went up to the cribs to try to get a little sleep. Unfortunately for Olivia, the agonizing thought of what to do about Jim Corrigan plagued her all night, and wouldn't allow her to get any of the sleep she knew she needed.

**TBC... Again, I know that it is going slowly, but there is a lot of information I need to lay down for the case to make sense in the future. Like I said, there are a few more mainly case chapters, and then theu will get into the personal stuff. Thanks for staying with me, and please keep sending your reviews, I am already over 100, and i really appreciate hearing from you. It lets me know that you guys are still reading, and makes me post faster to keep your interest. p.s. I again apologize for the lack of postings in the past, but now that it is officially summer, I hope to post every night or at least every other or every two nights I promise!**


	9. Trouble

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Here is a slightly longer chapter since I haven't updated in a few days**

**Trouble**

The next morning Olivia heard Much, Fin, and Elliot all rise and make their way back down to work. Elliot told everyone to let her sleep. Little did he know that she had gotten absolutely no sleep that night. She still had no idea what to do about that file.

She just wanted to lie in that bunk all day, and pretend the file that was hidden deep in her desk didn't exist. She wanted to pretend Judge Anderson didn't exist; wanted to pretend none of this had happened. She probably would have laid there until someone came to get her, except a wave of nausea hit her suddenly, and she sprang up for the bathroom.

"I have to do something about this file." She said to herself as she stared into the mirror, noticing how warn she looked.

When she finally did make an appearance in the bullpen, she noticed all that was going on.

Much was escorting Jordan O'Neil into a room to question her. The men had tracked down the victims that lived on the east coast. Fin was already talking to Nora, and Elliot was on the phone with Francis setting up a time for her to come down. Olivia felt her stomach sink at the realization that by keeping quiet, she was responsible for making these women re-live their attacks. She felt horrible.

As Olivia took her seat, Caroline Conner came in, and Elliot greeted her. He took her to the back to talk to her. The pit in Olivia's stomach just got bigger.

Cragen walked out of his office with a sullen look on his face. He made his way over to Olivia's desk.

"Olivia, can I see you in my office for a moment please?" He asked. Olivia could tell something was wrong. He usually yelled out of his office door if he wanted to see one of them. He was never this discrete.

She followed him back into his office where a man in a suit, with a badge clipped to his belt was waiting for her.

"What's going on?" Olivia asked Cragen as he closed the door behind him.

"Detective Benson, this is Detective Myers, IAB." He told her.

"Hey, I'm clean." She said, putting her hands up. "What does IAB want with me?" Her marriage suddenly popped into her head. If IAB picked now to give her a hard time about that, she was going to go off on someone. But if that was what they had wanted, why wasn't Elliot here?

"I understand that your squad has been investigating the Anderson murder." He said.

"Yes, but what has that got to do with me? I'm not even on that case." She said defensively.

"You were lead detective." He told her, as if she didn't remember. "If my sources are correct, you were taken off the case because of the personal history Anderson had with your mother." He informed her.

Cragen stood behind Olivia, wishing he could do something to stop this. He would give anything to know who IAB's source was so that he could personally bring that person pain for what was about to happen to Olivia.

"If by 'personal history' you're referring to the fact that he raped my mother, than yes." Olivia answered, her voice full of disdain. How IAB knew this, but were still in the dark about obvious things, like her marriage, she would never know. Maybe Munch was right about some of his spook theories. "However, I was not taken off the case, I excused myself." She added, correcting him.

"Detective Benson, did you know the victim prior to being sent to his residence after his death?" Detective Myers asked.

"He was the judge for my step dau…. Uh partner's daughter's claim against her history teacher." She told him, almost slipping up. "The man sexually harassed her in school."

"You took a bullet for him, didn't you?" Myers asked.

"If you already know the answer, why are you asking me?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest. She was growing annoyed.

"When did you first find out that he was your father?" He asked.

"When I was going through some boxes in his closet after I was sent to his house to investigate his murder." She told him, finally realizing where this was all going.

"Really? So he was nothing more to you than some judge?" He asked.

"No." Olivia answered sharply.

"Then why risk your own life to save his, and then invite him to your wedding?" He asked.

"I took that bullet because it's what I have been trained to do, and I didn't invite him to my wedding; would you like to see the guest list?" She spat.

"If you didn't invite him, why is there a picture of you on his mantel?" Myers asked, he clearly thought he had caught Olivia in a lie.

"Anderson invited himself." Olivia answered. "I didn't even know that he was there until I found the photo myself upon investigation of his house."

"Why would he do that?" Myers asked.

"He probably recognized her name when she testified in his court." Cragen answered for her. Olivia had been through enough, she didn't need this.

"With all do respect Captain Cragen, I wasn't asking you." Myers told him.

"Look, if you want to accuse me of something, do it. I'm busy." Olivia stated bluntly, taking the attention off her Captain.

"Did you kill Judge Anderson?" He asked.

"Anderson was killed with a .5 millimeter (A/N I don't know guns at all so I just made that up sorry if it's not right!) pistol. The only gun I have is my .9 mil, and it hasn't been shot recently, you can check it." She began. He was killed the night before I was sent to investigate. That was the first night my husband and I spent in our apartment after out honeymoon, so you can imagine that I was a little too busy to have killed him. That is all beside the fact that our ME believes he could only have been killed by a man that was around his size or larger considering the bruise patterns on the body. Finally, I had no idea who Anderson was until after I found my mother's ID in his closet after he was already dead. You can ask my partner how I reacted to that." She said. "If you could find any evidence that even remotely pointed to me as a suspect we both know that we would be having this conversation in your precinct and not my Captain's office, so if there's nothing else, I'd like to get back to work and take actual criminals off the street."

"One more question Detective Benson, a Detective Colberg from the 15th precinct took out a sealed file on Anderson last night. In the log he wrote that it was requested by you for a case you're working. Now, being that you just told me you were off that case, would you care to explain?" He asked.

Olivia silently cursed herself for lying to Keith. Had she told him she needed the file off the record he never would have logged it out. Damn protocol.

"It's for the detectives working the case." She lied.

"Then why didn't one of them request it?" Myers asked.

"Because it was on my hunch. I didn't want to add to their load until after I was sure if I was right or not." She said as a quick excuse. "Besides, I was the one who had a connection in the 15th precinct. It was easier for me to get the file."

"And just what was this hunch Detective Benson?" Myers asked.

"You know she can't disclose any information about an open case Myers." Cragen said, quickly deflecting the question. "She answered your questions. She clearly had nothing to do with Anderson's murder. Now arrest her or leave." He added.

"Thank you for your time." Myers said to both Cragen and Olivia. "I'll be checking your story Detective." He added over his shoulder as he let himself out of the office.

"Thanks for having my back Captain." She said after the IAB detective had left.

"I know that you didn't have anything to do with this Olivia." He answered scratching his bald head. "But, I would like to know what hunch you had that made you go looking for a file you had no way of knowing existed." He added.

Olivia didn't know what to say. She hadn't even decided if she was going to disclose the information in that file yet. She could lie to him, and tell him that her hunch was wrong, and that the file contained no useful information, but he had just stuck his neck out for her. Besides, he would probably ask to see the file anyway, and discover the contents that gave Jim Corrigan motive. She could tell him that the file was locked in her desk, and that she lost the key, but then he would just jimmie the lock, or call a lock smith. She could pretend to faint right here, but that would only buy her time.

"Olivia?" Cragen said when she didn't answer him. "Are you going to give me an explanation?"

She knew what she had to do. "Samantha Corrigan's husband said something to me yesterday in the hall that just didn't sound right." She told him, choosing her words carefully.

"What did he say?" Cragen probed.

"He asked if we got the guy who raped Samantha. Then he asked if we were going to hold him or let him go _again_." She said. "I wasn't sure why he had said 'again', we checked his records, and Anderson was clean. I checked what precinct was responsible for Anderson's house, and found out that it was the 15th. I knew a detective in the 15th, so I called in a favor to check if there was anything there." She admitted.

"And I assume that he found something." Cragen pushed.

Olivia was silent for a moment.

"Detective?" He pressed her.

"Two years back, Samantha saw Judge Anderson when she was at the park with her son. After following him home, she went into the precinct and told them where they could find her rapist." Olivia told him. "According to the file, they brought him in, but didn't feel there was enough evidence to hold him, so they let him go." She explained.

"Elliot questioned Samantha; her mother corroborated her alibi." Cragen said.

Once again Olivia was silent. She disclosed everything that was in the file, there was no way he could find out about the extra information that Keith had told her.

"Like I said, it was just a hunch." Olivia offered as an explanation

"I want to see that file." Cragen told her.

"I already told you everything that was in it." She argued.

"I don't care Detective. You are not on this case. I appreciate that you did this on your own time, but if it is pertinent to an ongoing investigation, I need to see it." He said sternly. When Olivia didn't move he added, "That was an order Detective, not a question."

Olivia just nodded her head and silently went to her desk to retrieve the file. She unlocked her desk, took the file out, and brought it back to Cragen's office.

He took the file from her and started looking through it. "This makes Samantha a suspect again." He said. "Why didn't you bring this to light sooner? Do you realize how much time was wasted tracking down Anderson's other victims? How many more women were you going to subject to our questioning before you brought this piece of information to light?" He scolded, making Olivia feel ashamed for withholding it from everyone.

"I'm sorry. Considering Samantha's Alibi checked, I didn't think it was pertinent." She lied.

"I wasn't aware that you took command of this unit Detective." Cragen said, clearly annoyed at her actions. "In fact, I wasn't even aware that you were still on this case, because that's the only way that you would be qualified to make those kind of decisions."

"Captain…" Olivia began, but was stopped by Cragen's angry tirade.

"No, I don't want to hear it. You're not on this case anymore Olivia. You asked to be taken off, now you live with your decision. We have wasted time tracking down possible leads when we should have been looking closer at the Corrigans. If the husband said something to you, that means he knew who her attacker was, and where he lived. That's motive and opportunity Benson. You're lucky I don't call IAB back and have them nail your ass for obstruction. Is there anything else you've failed to tell me?" He asked.

"No Sir." Olivia said quietly.

"Good, then get back to work." He told her.

She left the office, but bypassed her desk. She made her way to the roof instead. She needed to get some air.

Cragen ignored her. He hated being hard on her, but this seriously hampered his case. He instead went into the interrogation area, and knocked on the door of the three rooms where his detectives were to get their attention.

"What's goin on Captain?" Fin asked when he exited the room to see both Elliot and Munch also exiting to join Cragen.

"Some information has been brought to my attention that points to a possible lead in the case." He told the men, deciding to leave out just where he got his information from.

"What kind of information?" Elliot asked.

"Well, it seems that two years ago, Samantha Corrigan saw Anderson on the street, and followed him to his home. After finding out where he lived, she went to police, and told them where they could find her rapist." He informed them.

"Why didn't we find anything on his record?" Fin asked.

"Because, after being questioned by the 15th precinct, they decided that there was not enough evidence to press charges, and erased the whole ordeal from his record because he's a judge. Seems they thought Samantha was just an unhappy critic concerning a ruling he made at the time." He told them.

"So Samantha knew Anderson was her rapist the whole time." Munch noted. "What about the rest of the family?" He asked.

"We're pretty sure that her husband at least knew. We need to re-examine the Corrigans a little closer." Cragen ordered.

"But her alibi checked out. I spoke with her mother, and her son's pediatrician. She was at home at the time Anderson was killed." Elliot said.

"What about the husband?" Cragen asked.

"Samantha mentioned that he was home with her." Elliot told him.

"Are we sure about that?" Cragen asked.

"Samantha said that we could check with her husband on her alibi." Elliot said.

"Well get me something more substantial than that. Elliot and Munch I want you two running down this lead. Get over to the 15th; see if the Corrigans had any other complaints against the judge, and whatever else you can find out about the initial arrest. Fin, I want you to continue with the other victims, I'll bring Briscoe in to give you a hand." Cragen ordered.

The men just nodded their heads, and broke in different directions to follow out with their orders.

**TBC... tell me what you think, I love feedback!!**


	10. More Information

**Loose Ends and New Beginnings**

**Summary: See ch1**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Here's another chapter, I hope u enjoy, and don't forget to Review!!**

**Information**

While Fin and Briscoe interrogated the three woman that had arrived at the station house that day, Munch and Elliot made their way into upper Manhattan to speak to the Corrigans once again.

Elliot knocked forcefully at the door of the brownstone until Samantha greeted him. "Oh, hi detectives, I wasn't expecting you. Is everything alright?" She asked concerned.

"Everything's fine, we just have to ask you a few more questions concerning James Anderson, if that's alright." Elliot said in as polite a tone as he could muster.

"Of course." She said opening the door to the detectives, "But I've already told you everything that I know." She said.

Samantha led them into the living room and gestured for them to have a seat.

"You failed to mention that you were already familiar with your attacker before you looked at the photo array." Munch said as he sat down on the couch.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Samantha said, her voice giving away her nervousness.

"He's talking about two ago, when you followed Anderson home after seeing him on the street. You went to police then and told them where they could find your rapist." Elliot enlightened her.

"You never asked me if I knew who my rapist was. You just asked if I saw him in the photo array." She answered defensively.

"Why didn't you tell us Mrs. Corrigan?" Munch asked.

"Because you people didn't do anything the last time. Why would I think this time would be any different?" She asked, her voice threatening to crack. "What does it matter anyway?" She asked, forcing herself to calm down.

"What matters is that there are a whole bunch of people that knew Anderson was the one who raped you, and where to find him. That gives them motive and opportunity." Munch informed her.

"You don't still think I had something to do with his death?" She seethed. "I have an alibi and you checked it." She said angrily.

"It's not you that we're concerned about Mrs. Corrigan." Elliot said. "We are, however, going to need to speak with your mother and your husband, and anyone else who knew about Anderson."

"My mother was home with me." She said fiercely. "So was my husband."

"Can anyone else corroborate that?" Elliot asked.

"No. It was night time." She said coolly.

"Mrs. Corrigan, who else knew about Anderson?" Elliot asked. "And please, remember that withholding information is considered obstruction; and is a felony offense when it concerns a murder." He warned her.

"I didn't tell anyone." She lied, fighting her tears. "I couldn't tell my mother, it would kill her to know that the man who raped her daughter was back on the streets. I was too ashamed to tell my husband"

"Thank you Mrs. Corrigan." Elliot said. He really didn't want to totrure this woman

"The next time you want to accuse me or my family of something, call us into the station, because I will not have you in my home insinuating something like this again." She warned them.

Elliot and Munch hung their heads, and showed themselves out.

"You think Mom and dear old hubby really had no clue about Anderson?" Munch asked as the two walked down the steps of the brown stone toward the sidewalk.

"I don't know." Elliot answered.

"What if Mom found out? Samantha did say that it would kill her to know the man who raped her daughter was back on the streets." Munch noted as the two climbed into their car.

"I don't think a 60 year old woman could have held Anderson down in order to sodomize him." Elliot reasoned.

"Hey there are stories of Grandmothers who lift cars off their grandkids. Adrenaline is a force not to be messed with." Munch noted.

Elliot started the car, and steered into traffic.

"I don't know. I mean, I talked to the woman. She said that she and Samantha were with her grandson all night." Elliot said. "Plus the doctor corroborated."

"What about the husband?" Munch asked.

"He could have done it, but we're gonna need to prove that he knew that Anderson was his wife's rapist before we can go digging around him." Elliot huffed. "I guess all we can do is to talk to the cops over at the 15th."

Back at the 1-6 Olivia was staring off into space at her desk. She would have missed the incoming call had one of the other detectives in the squad room not called her attention to the ringing phone.

"Detective Benson, Special Victims Unit." She said into the phone.

"_Hey Livvy, it's Keith."_ She heard on the other end. _"Look, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted yesterday. I really am happy for you. I just, I never expected Olivia Benson to settle down and get married."_ He said with a small chuckle.

"Well thanks Keith." Olivia said sarcastically.

"_I want to make it up to you. Can you do lunch?" _He asked.

"Keith, I don't think…" She began.

"_Strictly one old friend taking out another, unless you're busy with work or family or something."_ He said quickly.

Olivia thought it over for a moment. "No, I'm actually sitting her staring off into space. I guess I can grab a quick lunch." She said, giving into his way with words, and her sudden hunger.

"_Great. Meet me at the old place in 20?"_ He asked.

"I'll see you there." She said with a smile, remembering the crummy old burger place they had had their first date in.

(Flashback)

The 1-6 was working with Keith and another detective from the 1-5 on a case when Olivia met him. He had tried to get her to go out to dinner with him the entire time they were working together, but she always refused, citing the fact that she didn't date people she worked with. After they had closed the case, the group went to one of the local bars to celebrate. Slowly everyone started to leave, until it was just Olivia and Keith. She remembered how he was sitting on the bar stool next to her when he again tried to get her to go out with him.

"_So, looks like it's just you and me. This could be considered a date if you'd let me buy you a drink." _He had said with a playful grin.

"_Well, too bad I'm done for the night."_ She had told him.

"_Come on Olivia. It's not like we're working together anymore."_ He had argued. Olivia remembered how cute she thought he was at that moment. She had turned him down at least 20 times in the past week, yet he was still trying. _"Would you at least let me buy you a burger from the place next door?"_ He tried one last futile attempt. _"And before you shoot me down… again…"_ He had said, making her laugh. _"Just remember that you have to eat sometime, so why not just let me pay for it."_

"_I guess I really can't pass up a free meal if you are insisting. But it's just a burger, nothing more."_ Olivia had finally said. He had started to grow on her in the time they had worked together.

That night she let him buy her a burger, and then ended up walking around the whole city with him, getting lost in conversation. He walked her to her apartment that night, and she let him kiss her. She would probably have invited him to stay, but it was him that reminded her that _"It was just a burger, nothing more."_

She called him the next night, and they started dating shortly after. He had been a good guy to her, just not the right one.

(End Flashback)

"Captain, I'm going for lunch, I'll be back in a half hour." She yelled into Cragen's office. She didn't want to just leave, in case he was still furious at her.

Keith was walking out of the 1-5 as Elliot and Munch were walking in. None of the men noticed the other.

The two detectives made their way up to Keith's squad room to speak with his Captain.

"I take it you're detectives Munch and Stabler." Captain Sparks said when he saw them. He extended his hand to each. Elliot had called before. Cops were very territorial, and it was bad natured to barge into someone else's squad room unannounced. "I set up a room for us to speak privately in." He said, motioning the two to his office.

He closed the door behind them. "Please, take a seat."

"Thank you." Elliot and Munch both said, but refrained from sitting.

"What can I do for you? You said on the phone that you needed to talk about Judge Anderson?" He asked.

"Yes. Someone killed him a few days ago, and we need your help to figure out who." Elliot said.

"You need men?" The Captain asked.

"We need information." Munch answered. "You guys brought Anderson two years back due to a complaint that Samantha Corrigan made against him. She told you that he had raped her 5 years prior."

"That's right. I remember that. My officers brought him in from his home, and questioned him for over an hour." Captain Sparks said.

"Do you remember why you didn't hold him?" Elliot asked.

"I didn't feel that we had enough evidence to charge a Judge with rape. If I recall, Mrs. Corrigan refused to have a rape kit done 5 years ago. EMT's were called to the school where she worked. She was found by a student. She told them, and ER doctors, that she had gotten jumped and mugged. It was only later that she changed her story to that she been raped, and that was only because her husband accused her of having an affair when she wouldn't have sex with him." Sparks told them. He was talking about the origional rape of Samantha Corrigan

"You didn't find it odd that after she did report the rape, the description she gave to the sketch artist bared an uncanny resemblance to Anderson?" Munch asked.

"A sketch isn't enough to charge a Judge with rape." Sparks defended. "But what does it matter now. He's dead. If he did rape her, I think justice was finally served."

"Unfortunately, now we have to bring in the person who took justice into their own hands." Elliot said. "Do you remember how Samantha acted when she found out you were letting Anderson off?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to speak with the arresting officers Detective. I was on vacation at the time. The only reason I'm so familiar with the case is because my men called me when they realized that they had arrested a judge." He said.

"Would you mind telling us who was on the case?" Munch asked, clearly annoyed at the maze Captain Sparks was making them run through. The man obviously felt that the 1-6 was overstepping their boundaries on this one.

"Since the interrogation was kept off official record you're going to have to check the hard copy, and according to my records one of your detectives was the last to have it.

"Hold on for a second." Munch said, stepping to the back of the office to call Cragen to get the names that were on the file he had showed them that afternoon.

"One of our detectives tracked that file down?" Elliot asked. Cragen never did tell them how he got his hands on a sealed file.

"Yes. And I don't appreciate you going behind my back to get at my sealed files." He said indignantly.

"Our Captain says the cops on the case were Detective Michael Stevens and Detective Andrew Layolla." Munch said as he closed his cell.

"Stevens moved to Colorado with his wife and kids two months ago, and Layolla is on vacation until Monday. Sorry Detectives." Sparks said.

"Is there a phone number we can contact Stevens at?" Elliot asked.

"He didn't leave one with me." Sparks said, not sounding too upset over it.

"Tell Layolla that we need to speak with him when he gets back." Elliot responded, annoyed.

With that the he and Munch made their way back to the street.

"Well that was a waste of time." Munch huffed.

"Yeah, let's just get back to the house and see if we can find out anything else on the Corrigans." Elliot answered.

**TBC... Let me know what u thihnk!**


End file.
